Open Post: Hogsmeade

[courageous_wit]

[it's Saturday, so it's time to kick back and enjoy the lovely sights of Hogsmeade. Have a drink at the Three Broomsticks, grab some sweets from Honeydukes, or dare to check out the famously haunted Shrieking Shack! Just kick back and enjoy yourselves today!

This is technically only open to third years and above, but if you can sneak out without teachers noticing more power to you!]

[Three Broomsticks | Honeydukes | Zonko’s Joke Shop | Hog’s Head | Shrieking Shack | and feel free to make own sections!]

Comments

[heloise]

It is all up in the air when you start. [ Though she's only saying that to keep him on his toes. ]

So, once upon a time...

[unvarnished]

[he frowns a bit. That's how Muggle fairy tales begin, not Wizard ones. He's sure that his lie has been flawless, that she can't possibly know he lived among them. But she started it and he can play along]

Once upon a time there was a greedy man who loved money more than anything in the world. No matter how many Galleons he had to his name, he always wanted more. His vault at Gringotts was overflowing and yet he worked to accumulate more riches.

One day this man met a seller of basic charms and potions. This wizard was dressed in shabby clothes and lived in what wasn't any better than a shack. Yet the wizard was completely happy. The greedy man was puzzled by this. How could a man with no wealth be so content? When the greedy man offered the wizard gold for his charms and potions, he refused.

"You need my charms more than I need your gold, sir," the wizard told him. And that was even more puzzling. What sort of person refused gold? What was the secret?

[heloise]

[ Perhaps that is more a revelation of her own family, mudbloods who reached too high and yet refused to be ashamed of it. She doesn't mind being known as one, even seeing it as a certain license to misbehave. ]

Is it generosity? Is that a secret?

[unvarnished]

Mmm, you got it. I guess the moral of the story is supposed to be to not be selfish. Or to not put all your love into something as cold as a Galleon.

[heloise]

[ She leans in to rest her chin on her hands. ]

What then must one put all one's love into?

[unvarnished]

That would be different for everyone. Some people put their love into helping others and become Healers. Some put their love into protecting others and become Aurors.

[heloise]

But what of yourself, August?

[unvarnished]

I have to graduate school first. [it's honestly a miracle he made it through his OWLs with more than two passing grades]

[heloise]

It isn't what you know but who.

[ That's her philosophy anyway, knowing whose favor to earn got her father where he is. ]

[unvarnished]

Then it's lucky I know people like you. [he winks]

[heloise]

People like me or me?

[unvarnished]

[he takes a sip of the butterbeer. It tastes nasty but it's a drink] What do you think?

[heloise]

I think... you prefer this glass of butterbeer.

[unvarnished]

It would be better if it was firewhiskey. What do you say? Want to have a real drink with me?

[heloise]

With you. Only if we share a glass.

[unvarnished]

One glass? [he tries to look cool and unconcerned, but probably fails] Yeah, sure, that would be okay.

[heloise]

[ Ah, but her one reason for suggesting so is to see that facade slip, if only a little bit. She turns toward the bar then back at him. ]

Do you know how to ask for Firewhiskey here?

[unvarnished]

You wait here and I'll take care of it.

[a chance to show off to Lucrezia? He is so on that. August goes up to the bartender, and there is a conversation between the two of them. When August comes back, he is holding a glass of firewhiskey. He is limping slightly, since whatever he said to the bartender was a lie and thus activated his Paradisa loss.

Worth it, though]

One firewhiskey, as promised.

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia would make sure of it too, waiting patiently with her chin rested on her hands for him to come back. The limp is noticeable but this is hardly the time to draw attention to it.

She reaches to take the glass from him and take the first sip, trying to keep from wincing at the burning sensation but failing, but she gives him a winning smile to salvage a little of her pride when she slides the glass back his way. ]

Your turn.

[unvarnished]

[he watches her take that first sip. August's own sip is a lot more generous, even if it does make him cough from the burning]

Firewhiskey plus a hot summer day... We'll need a way to cool off later.

[heloise]

[ She grins at his coughing, thinking he probably did it on purpose to make her feel better. ]

You seem to have a suggestion in mind.

[unvarnished]

A long soak in the prefect's bathroom would be nice.

[heloise]

Is that what they of me now? That I sneak into the special bathroom with boys in tow?

[ But her smile is as simple as if she's only asking him for the time. ]

[unvarnished]

From what I hear, the prefect's bathroom is big enough for a pool party.

[heloise]

But I would have to share your company with others in a party.